Selling is the primary performance-related activity in the sales job, yet descriptions of the task-specific knowledge of sales personnel are rare. In a two-phased (free elicitation and validation) study, the authors used cognitive script methods to map the procedural knowledge of experienced, effective industrial salespersons. Commonalities in the selling objectives, sales call planning activities, and sales call interaction activities for four selling situations are described. These script norms provide rich, activity-based descriptions of salesperson knowledge as empirical content for future theoretical investigations and practical applications in sales performance and sales training.
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